Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Questions For The Competition is a weekly column that addresses our issues with the brackets of other bracketology "experts." This week's questions are reserved for ESPN's Joe Lunardi, SI.com's Andy Glockner, and CBSSports.com and CollegeRPI.com's Jerry Palm. Keep in mind that these questions are about each expert's most recent bracket, all of which were released before Monday's games.

Joe Lunardi (ESPN) - Feb. 1 BracketHow does a "Professor of Bracketology" put two Big East teams - UConn and Pittsburgh - against each other in the first round? Is it too late for your students to get their money back? That's awful.

More importantly, did you really think you could CHANGE your bracket Tuesday afternoon (at about 5 p.m. ET) and not have us notice?? You outta know better than that by now...

Where the heck is Florida? How is Cal, which has a grand total of zero quality wins, in as an at-large (and an 8 seed!), and the Gators aren't even on the Last Eight Out list? How is that possible?

How is BYU still a 3 seed after losing at New Mexico?

If UConn loses out, will you still have them in the Play-In game?

How are Louisville and Seton Hall ahead of Marquette on your Last Eight list?

Andy Glockner (SI.com) - Feb.1 BracketWe only have one major gripe with your bracket, but it's a big one: How in the world would the Colonial get three bids if the season ended today? William & Mary would get a bid even though they are tied for fourth (fourth!) in conference?

Isn't Kansas State a little high at a 2?

Jerry Palm (CBS, CollegeRPI.com) - Feb. 1 Bracket

Did anyone in the A-10 not make your bracket? Did you have to draw the line at Saint Louis? Seriously, though, six A-10? Way to make the tough decisions on the bubble.

Who has Seton Hall beaten to earn an at-large? How are they in ahead of Marquette?

How is Texas and Purdue a 2 over Michigan State? You must be a Purdue fan...that's right, you are!

19 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Haha, your comments on all of them are pinpoint and hilarious (especially Lunardi). I am glad that glockner is giving William & Mary some love, but they are going to have to play close to perfect the rest of the way to earn an at-large. Keep the comments coming!

Purdue's wins are better, their losses are better, they are equal in number. It looks like Purdue has MSU beat by the numbers except for the fact that they are 3 games behind in the conference standings because all 3 of their losses came in conference while all 3 of MSU's losses came out of conference.

So the ultimate question remains, does being ahead in your conference standings by 3 games regardless of who beat you earlier in the year, automatically warrant a higher seed?

I mean obviously this will be settled next week and later in February when MSU and Purdue square off. But is a projection that has Purdue ahead of MSU really that off? Or even one talking about if the season ended today?

Shaudius - You are right in saying that Purdue and Michigan State have almost identical resumes, which is why they are just two spots apart on the S-curve. Michigan State is two spots ahead because of their 3-game lead (2.5 after last night) in the Big Ten.

Conference record is important, but every year teams leag-frog each other when it comes to seeding. A 11-7 team could easily be seeded higher than a 12-6 team on Selection Sunday. A three-game difference is a big gap, though. Looking ahead, we can see Michigan State finishing two games better in conference, which would also be a big enough gap to keep them just ahead of Purdue. If they finish one game apart, their seed in relation to one another will be determined by the strength of their Big Ten wins.

Who called Joe L. the "Professor of Bracketology"? He makes a lot of mistakes and doesn't even understand all the bracketing principles. Craig and Chris have proven to be more accurate than Joe. He is far from being a "Professor of Bracketology"..

Seth Davis said that North Carolina is in better shape than people think because of wins over Ohio State and Michigan State. Those are nice wins, but at some point, doesn't North Carolina need to start winning conference games? How do you guys feel about the Tar Heels?

B101 what team(s) are you most impressed with this season that aren't top 4 seeds. Teams flying under the radar that could end up finishing the season on a tear or really start to get it going into tourney time?

Arizona made Lunardi's bracket because they are in first place in the Pac-10 and thus get the auto bid.

We called Lunardi the "Professor of Bracketology" because he is teaching an online bracketology course at St. Joe's. (You can be the 10th best bracketologist one day too, kids!) Today he taught his students that two teams from the same conference can play in the first round. Tomorrow's lesson is that if you have won two national titles in the last 12 years (UConn), your record each year doesn't matter. You automatically get a bid.

We still don't understand why most people have BYU ranked ahead of New Mexico. New Mexico has a much better OOC resume and they beat BYU head-to-head (albeit at home, but still). BYU has a gaudy record for sure, but that record is padded by a lot of so-so wins. New Mexico has five Top 50 wins so far; BYU has two.

It's way too early to count North Carolina out, especially considering how many chances they still have left in conference to pick up quality wins. That said, the fact that they are losing games at home to teams that are even tourney-quality (Virginia) is very troublesome. Also troublesome is their remaining schedule, which features six road games, only one of which (at BC) is against a team not currently in our bracket. We'll learn everything we need to know about the Heels this week. If they can't win at least one road game against bubble teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech, their tourney dreams might be over.

Below the 4 line, we really like Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Baylor, and Marquette (who may have finally turned the corner with their win at UConn). Down even lower, keep an eye on UTEP and Utah State. Both are on a roll right now, and both could easily pull a first round upset in the tourney if they make it.

anonymous,Andy Glockner might be right about Maryland. They have a very tough schedule left and need to get some big wins to earn a bid. The Terrapins did not fare very well in the OOC games. Another thing that could hurt the Maryland is a loss to fellow bubble team Cincinnati. Maryland needs to rise to the challenge in these tough road games to earn a spot. But I think Andy Glockner got it right on Maryland.

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